The Things That Cause a Quiet Life
(Written by Martial)
Also watch on YouTube
Also watch on YouTube
My friend, the things that do attain
The happy life be these, I find:
The riches left, not got with pain,
The fruitful ground; the quiet mind;
The equal friend; no grudge, no strife;
No charge of rule nor governance;
Without disease the healthy life;
The household of continuance;
The mean diet, no dainty fare;
True wisdom joined with simpleness;
The night discharged of all care,
Where wine the wit may not oppress;
The faithful wife, without debate;
Such sleeps as may beguile the night:
Content thyself with thine estate,
Neither wish death, nor fear his might.
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Henry Howard’s poem is actually a translation of one of the Roman poet Martial’s Epigrams.
The original poem was written roughly 1500 years before Howard translated it. Howard’s translation shows that the elements of a happy life are timeless and universal. They include the following: “riches” (money, income) obtained without pain, an untroubled (“quiet”) mind, a friend you can accept as an equal, a peaceful life without quarreling, a calm political situation in your country, good health, a well-established family (“the household of continuance”), a healthy diet (“no delicate fare”), wisdom joined with simplicity, a lack of drunkenness, a faithful wife, the ability to sleep peacefully at night, and neither a wish for nor a fear of death.
Read more of this analysis here: https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/poem-means-attain-happy-life-which-they-what-does-260979
